So if I had a cp -v operation fail, is the last file name it printed out the last successful file copy, or is it the failed partially copied file? If you had to ensure all files are copied correctly without overwriting anything, would deleting the last filename that was printed from the destination folder delete the partially copied file that the operation failed on?
My memory of the cp command is that attributes such as file times were transferred at the last step. I think this would make rsync safe in most situations where a system crash wasn’t involved.